A Chicago court ordered Johnson & Johnson and its consumer health spinoff, Kenvue, to pay $45 million to the family of a woman in Illinois. She claimed that the companies’ talcum-based baby powder caused her fatal cancer.
After a trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, the jury concluded on April 19 that Kenvue was 70% responsible for the death of Theresa Garcia. The mother of six passed away four years ago due to mesothelioma. The trial took place after Johnson & Johnson filed for bankruptcy, halting this case and thousands of others involving asbestos and talcum powder.
The jury found J&J and Kenvue Inc. liable, determining that Kenvue bore 70% responsibility for the passing of Theresa Garcia, a mother of six and grandmother. Garcia succumbed to mesothelioma in 2020, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure.
Attorney Ben Adams, from Dean Omar Branham Shirley, commented: “Ms. Garcia’s case was delayed by several years when Johnson & Johnson filed two bad faith bankruptcies in an attempt to avoid the decades of liability it now faces. During the pendency of those bad faith bankruptcies, Johnson & Johnson engaged in a corporate shell game creating Kenvue, Inc. The Cook County jury found that Kenvue is responsible for 70% of Mrs. Garcia’s injuries and death as the successor in interest to Johnson & Johnson. The jury also put 15% of the responsibility on Johnson & Johnson and 15% on Johnson & Johnson Holdco, Inc.”
Johnson & Johnson has consistently denied that its talc-based baby powder contains asbestos or causes cancer. They announced in August 2022 their decision to replace talc with cornstarch in their products worldwide starting in 2023. The company had previously halted the sale of talc-based products in North America in 2020 due to declining sales. Following a Justice Department investigation initiated in July 2019 to determine what Johnson & Johnson knew about the cancer risk associated with its products, the company faced numerous lawsuits alleging talc-related health issues. Johnson & Johnson filed for bankruptcy twice, in October 2021 and April 2023. As part of a bankruptcy filing, the company proposed an $8.9 billion settlement in April to settle thousands of claims, but a judge rejected the plan in July.
